Halo: Too Human
by Jack Sawyer
Summary: Set two years after Halo 3, Humanity is rebuilding, but a mysterious connection to humanity surfaces, and Sergeant Major Ender Carter must investigate it and try to avoid another intergalactic war. Technically a crossover but there's no too human option
1. Atlantis

1

Atlantis

"Sierra bird access code 55943837 requesting landing." Sparx said from the large cabin of the Mythic Dawn Frigate. Sparx was the AI of the Mythic Dawn. Downloaded for the ship specifically from Fleet Commander Terrence Hood. The Commander needed a new AI for his own Frigate ever since they lost AI Cortana.

The Frigate was flying as if it was lost over the Atlantic Ocean. But the Frigate wasn't lost. These were the exact coordinates that they were looking for.

The Commander stood on the deck of the Mythic Dawn and looked carefully on the water's surface. All that could be seen for miles to come was the rolling tides of the Atlantic Ocean.

After a few moments there was finally a response.

"This is Atlantis Command, authorizing landing codes." The voice was a hoarse one but it was a confirming one.

Suddenly out of the Ocean was a splash of a protruding pike. The pike started rising and rising till a building formed in front of the Frigate. After the building was another building and another. Finally some small buildings were on bottom and the growing stopped.

"Welcome to Outpost Atlantis Command Hood." The voice on the COM unit said as the Frigate orbited the metal island for a few moments. Finally a large hanger door opened and the Frigate slowly pulled into it and hovered to a landing.

Marines filed onto the hanger in front of the Frigate exit and stood in tight uniformed position. The Frigate's hatch opened and Admiral Hood stepped down the ramp onto the hanger floor.

Suddenly the hanger doors opened and a lieutenant came rushing in up to Hood.

"Admiral, welcome to Atlantis. Sergeant Carter told us of your immediate arrival and we prepared quickly." The young lieutenant said. His words were so fast the Admiral had trouble understanding him but he got the most of it.

"At ease Lieutenant. I actually came to see the Sergeant in person. Where is he?" Hood said looking around at the soldiers standing at complete attention.

"He is at the bridge sir. I will lead you there sir."

"Good." Hood said. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a microchip. He walked to the doors to the hanger and placed the chip onto a computer pedestal. Suddenly a hologram of a computized man appeared.

"Sparx I'm taking you with me. I want you to reassign your Mythic Dawn duties to AI 517." Hood commanded.

"Excuse me sir but AI 517 is not nearly efficient for taking over command of a magnificent ship like yours sir. Magna is a new program and…" Sparx was cut off by Hood.

"Come now Sparx, we are with friends. I'm sure Magna can handle herself until we return to the Dawn." Sparx replied with a sigh and said,

"Yes sir. I'll reassign command of the ship now."

"Thank you Sparx. Besides, I need you in briefing the Sergeant. You know the most on the Odin project." Hood said. Behind him the lieutenant heard this and said,

"Excuse me sir, but what's the Odin project?" Hood looked back at the lieutenant and said,

"Sorry son. It's on a need to know basis and I have to tell you that you don't need to know at this time what the Odin project is. You'll learn in time but right now you need to lead me to the general. This matter is urgent." The lieutenant saluted and said,

"Yes sir." Hood saluted back and looked back at Sparx.

"There." Sparx said. "I've reassigned the Dawn's command to Magna until I am put back into the Dawn's controls. Yank me." Hood placed his hand over the holographic figure and pulled the microchip out of the pedestal and with the chip went the figure.

"Shall we go lieutenant?"

The lieutenant led Hood out of the hanger and as he did the large doors of the hanger began to close.

"Excuse the noise Admiral. We're going through the submersion process. The wonders of Atlantis is that it can continue defense systems as well as transportation systems around the station without interfering with the submersion process." The lieutenant said as a noise started to rumble throughout the station.

The two entered an elevator and it quickly shut and started to shoot up the small tunnel. There was a large window that the Admiral looked out. At first he saw only many loading docks and hangers of the lower levels of the station. Once the lieutenant press a button the elevator shot up to a beautiful view of the Atlantic.

Suddenly a voice came onto the intercom.

"All dive zones seals. Advancing in submersion process." Suddenly Hood looked down and saw the lower levels of the station start to dive into the Ocean. The water created waves and shot out of the way of the giant piece of shielded metal as it submerged under the blue mass. Even as fast as the elevator was going the water soon caught up with the lift and quickly started to submerge the pod. Hood was amazed at the quick process as the water went over the pod and yet the pod kept shooting up.

Suddenly the pod shot into a tube and finally stopped.

"Here we are Admiral. We've reached the Bridge and at the perfect time. The submersion process is always the best at the bridge." The lieutenant said with a hint of excitement in his voice. Hood nodded. The doors of the elevator opened and the two soldiers walked out of the pod and up a step to a large circular room. The lieutenant led Hood over to the window and they looked down. They saw the water quickly submerging them until finally it passed over them and everything but the last pike was submerged and in a few seconds the pike would join them.

"Entertaining the Admiral, lieutenant Jones?" a voice said from behind them. The lieutenant Jones was startled by it but Hood turned with a smile. He knew exactly whose voice that was.

Standing behind them was the decorated Sergeant Major Ender Carter. The Sergeant was tall and had short black hair. He was dressed in a blue uniform and looked magnificently as a Sergeant.

"Admiral I understand this is your first visit to Atlantis. Quite a station is it not?" Carter bragged. Hood didn't blame him for bragging. It was quite an incredible station.

"Yes Sergeant. I am greatly impressed. Especially the improvements I've heard you've done with the station since you took control." Hood complimented. The improvements he spoke of were the large defense cannons just below the bridge.

The Sergeant nodded in pleasure of the Admiral's compliment and said,

"Thank you Admiral. Well lieutenant. I must ask you to retire. The Admiral and I have a great deal to discuss, or so I've heard." The lieutenant nodded and saluted. He then saluted to the admiral and marched back to the elevator. Once Jones left, the Sergeant walked to Hood and personally shook his hand. "I never said Welcome to Atlantis sir." Hood laughed. "Please, follow me to the situation room sir."

Carter led Hood across the Bridge to a door that went through a small hallway. The small hallway finally led to another circular room where they took a right and into a room with a rectangular table in the middle with a pedestal similar to the one in the hanger in the middle of the table.

"Well Admiral. You traveled all the way from the Cairo to talk to me about something. How about we get to it?" Ender said. Hood nodded and quickly reported,

"Well I know who can explain it better than I can." He walked to the center of the table, grabbed the microchip again and set it on the pedestal in the middle of the table. Once again the holographic figure of Sparx rose from the pedestal, this time bigger than he was in the hanger. "This is AI 516. AKA Sparx. Sparx meet Sergeant Major Ender Carter." Hood introduced once he had Sparx' attention.

Sparx turned to Ender and looked surprised. "Well, well, well. The famous Ender Carter. The man who held off battalions of Covenant to create a road for Sergeant Major Johnson God rest his soul. I have to say I'm a little disappointed Sergeant." Ender was surprised by the comment.

"Disappointed AI 516?"

"Oh please. Call me Sparx." Sparx answered cockily. "Yes disappointed. I thought the great Sergeant Major Ender Carter would be much older to be running a place like this. I downloaded your system the minute I arrived here and I have to say this is one of the most sophisticated systems in the UNSC's defense system. So I'm still wondering why something this sophisticated would be put into the hands of a man so young." Sparx scoffed. Ender was taken aback by the comments but he laughed it off and said,

"Well I've done my best Sparx. Now Admiral Hood tells me you can brief me on this situation." But Sparx looked at Hood and said,

"I thought you were kidding when you downloaded his picture to my system Admiral."

"Sparx! We are short on time now brief the Sergeant on the situation." Hood snapped. Sparx sighed and started,

"Alright. As you're probably aware of, since our alliance with the Covenant fleet lead by the one they call the Arbiter, his fleets have been patrolling the galaxy looking for remnants of Covenant loyal to either the Brutes or the Prophet of Truth. Any covenant looking for any Halos or anything related with that Forerunner technology are on the Arbiter's most wanted list."

"Of course. I have sent several of my fleet to support the Arbiter if necessary and if it is in range." Carter answered. Sparx seemed not to be interested and continued,

"Yeah, yeah, yeah whatever. So 72 hours ago we get a transmission from the Arbiter. He says that he's in a different system and he has found something."

"What is it? Covenant?" Sparx gave an annoyed look at Admiral Hood and said,

"No, its not Covenant. It was a Colony of humans. Far beyond any of the UNSC's or any human colonies have ever traveled." Carter gave a confused look to Hood and Hood answered with,

"At first we thought it was a lost pilgrimage ship that found a habitual world and decided to inhabit when they lost communication. I mean its not the first time something like that has happened." Sparx took the spotlight again.

"But then the Arbiter received a strange transmission from them. He sent it back to the Cairo and we couldn't match it with any of the transmission signatures in any human database. The Arbiter ran it through his systems and no matches were found."

"So these are humans that have no connection to Earth? How do you know they're even humans maybe they're similar to humans but have a different genetic compound?" Carter suggested. Sparx was impressed with the comment. Hood butted in,

"That's what you need to find out." Ender was confused. "I'm assigning you to go out to rendezvous with the Arbiter. Make contact with the inhabitants of that planet and conduct an experiment to see if they are actually terrestrials. If they are you must inform them of co-existence with us. I'm sure there are roots of that world that link back to our world and its only fair they know of that link." Hood explained.

"And if they aren't of the same origin?" Carter asked. Sparx and Hood looked at each other. It almost looked as if they hadn't thought of that part of the plan. But Hood answered.

"Still continued with a plan for co-existence. We want to avoid another war like the one we had with the covenant. We can't have these wars just because we find life that is different from ours." Carter nodded but he still had one more question.

"Why are you sending me Admiral?" Hood was surprised by the question but didn't protest yet. Ender wasn't done yet. "I mean you hear this news and I'm the first person you think of to send off into the galaxy?" Hood smiled and turned his back. Both Sparx and Ender watched him. Unknown to the other, they had the same question in their heads. Finally Hood answered,

"Of course you've seen the drastic rebuilding Earth has gone through throughout the last two years. We've made drastic improvements as well and we're comfortable for being attacked two years ago. Yet humanity is still scarred." Hood said bluntly. "If you've seen the cities you know that there are curfews still. People are scarred to look into the sky because they are afraid fleets of aliens are going to come plummeting down and make their cities burn. And ever since heroes like Avery Johnson, Miranda Keyes and Master Chief were lost…" the Admiral paused. The AI and the Sergeant wondered if this was an emotional topic for the Admiral. Finally the Admiral turned and said, "Humanity needs their heroes Carter. You're the last one left from the Covenant retaliation. Soldiers know your name and will be inspired if they hear you're going out to ensure that humanity is safe from the unknown of space." Ender was inspired by the speech right there but he was still unsure. He turned and looked out the window into the vast ocean depths. Finally he turned and said,

"I'll do it. Where are my men?"


	2. Mythic Dawn

2

The Mythic Dawn

"Welcome to the Cairo Sergeant Carter." Hood said at the bridge of the Mythic Dawn. The Dawn was just breaking the Earth's atmosphere and reaching the space station, the Cairo. Also on the bridge was the holographic figure of Sparx, Sergeant Carter and Lieutenant Jones. The young lieutenant looked as if he had never been off the Atlantis before. He looked as though he had never been on a Frigate like the Dawn before. "You'll be briefed on this new discovery once we board the Cairo. You'll also meet your squad." Carter stopped when he heard that.

"My squad? Admiral you made it sound like I was bringing a battalion. You know just in case." Hood shook his head.

"Sergeant Carter as much as a battalion would provide a security we can't risk these inhabitants to feel threatened when you show up in their world. You'll have plenty of cover from the Arbiter's fleet once you reach the system. A small squad would provide a non-threatening message to the inhabitants in case they are territorial which I wouldn't doubt they are. I wouldn't be putting you at this risk unless I was absolutely convinced you were the right man for the job." Sparx laughed. Carter ignored him and Jones looked as if he was really getting annoyed with the AI. "Not to worry Carter. The men I'm sending with you are some of my best men."

"Yeah good luck." Sparx scoffed.

Hood, Carter and Jones exited the Dawn once it landed with Sparx and took a transportation unit to the barracks. Once they reached the barracks they exited the transportation unit and walked into the dark armor room. In the room were five men. They were all Marines, all of different races and they all clearly had their own specialty.

"Marines!" Hood barked. All the men snapped to attention and looked at the three in front of them. "Meet your new leader. Sergeant Major Ender Carter. He along with Lieutenant Jones over there will be heading up your new assignment."

"Hoorah!" the Marines barked back. They all knew Sergeant Carter from great tales of heroism.

"Marines I have zero tolerance for any trouble you're going to bring to this group. We work as a team do you understand me?" Carter stepped up and said forcefully. "I have my own rule that says no man is going to be left behind with me. I didn't do it in my campaign against the Covenant and I won't do it now you can count on that." Carter suddenly realized that although he was commanding this squad, several of the troops were older than him. It didn't shake him though. He just felt strange. But all the Marines looked as though they respected him.

"I must ask you all to move to the briefing room where Sparx will brief you on your mission." Admiral Hood reported. The men all filed into the next room and sat down in chairs circling a larger holographic table. Hood once again walked to it and set the chip down where Sparx appeared this time larger than before.

"Welcome gentlemen and kid leading gentlemen." Sparx said in his mocking voice.

"Hey! I'm sick of you disrespecting the Sergeant like that!" Jones said standing up and charging the table. Luckily Carter grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Ooo, what you gonna do small fry? Break up my signal?"

"Sparx! Just get to the briefing!" Hood barked. Sparx sighed. He was just starting his fun. Sparx disappeared and another holographic picture appeared. It was of a shard of a spaceship or something of the sort.

"This is the symbol of the inhabitants on the star system we have code named Odin's star. The reason we believe these are lost human colonies is because when we saw the intelligence the Arbiter sent us, we were able to link the symbols these colonies use to Old Norse symbols. This is a military operation though because from intelligence the Arbiter's fleet have picked up the humans on this planet have advanced technology, advanced technology that may have gotten out of control at one time."

"Why would you say that?" Carter spoke up. Sparx groaned silently and said,

"Well I didn't want to show this video for the kids in the audience cause its kinda graphic but if it helps." A holographic video appeared and it was a recording off a Covenant breathing helmet.

"Is the air not breathable for the Covenant?" One of the Marines said as he noticed the breathing mask.

"The air has not been fully analyzed and the Arbiter didn't want to take any chances until we got there and were able to analyze the air for toxins that might be harmful to their lungs." Sparx commented.

"Couldn't the beast just take off their masks and just suffocate for a worthy cause. I wouldn't suppose they owe us that much do they?" another marine spoke up. That was a line Ender wouldn't let them cross.

"Marines! I will have no discriminatory remarks made about the Covenant. They are our allies in this operation they will have our respect! Do I make myself clear?" Carter barked. The Marine who made the remark was about to defend his point but instead he nodded reluctantly and yelled,

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!"

"Now if Martin Luther King Jr. Jr. can sit down we will start the film." Sparx said in his mocking tone still brimming. Ender annoyed sat down.

The video feed started with the recorder walking with two Covenant Elite scouts. They came to a rock where some noise was behind it. The Elites hid behind it and slowly peeked over the rock to see what was making the noise. On the other side there was a squad of men who looked like humans firing off plasma rifles at a squad of golden orange machines. One of the humans was dressed differently than the others and was not only carrying a plasma pistol but a long sword that he carried with the opposite hand.

The machines moved fast and pierced the skin of one of the humans and hoisted him up in the air. The man with the sword quickly flew into the air and sliced the machine in half. But not in time to save the soldier who was impaled by the machine.

The screen faded and Sparx reappeared to his holographic figure.

"Now I can see two scenarios here. Either these machines here are foreign machines that are a new threat to these "Humans" or they are AI gone wrong, unlike the beauty of myself. Either way they pose a threat to us if they were ever to find Earth. But that's worst case scenario."

"These machines are your second objective. Once you make contact with these life forms. You find out what those machines are and you make sure they never find Earth or any of humanity as we know it." Hood put in. he may have felt that Sparx dragging out this briefing and he wanted to pick things up.

"So let's go over your objective one more time for the youngsters sake." Sparx said, his mocking tone never leaving for a second. "Rendezvous with the Arbiter's fleet. Make contact with the life forms on planet code name Odin's Star. Find the origins of the mystery machines. Did you get that Carter or do I need to say it slower?" Carter stood up and turned to Admiral Hood.

"When can we deploy sir?"

"Immediately Sergeant. You'll be taking the best ship in the fleet. The Mythic Dawn."

"But Sir!" both Carter and Sparx said at the same time. But Hood put up his hand in stopping the protest.

"You need it more than I do right now Carter. She's one hell of a ship." Hood said.

"But sir, The Dawn is only as good as it's AI and if you give it to Carter the only AI that will fly that baby is Magna and I'll tell you now Magna will only ruin this mission for Carter. Worse than he'll ruin it."

"That's why I'm sending you with Sergeant Carter Sparx."

"What?" Everyone in the room said at once.

Carter stepped into the hanger docking the Dawn and looked at the magnificent ship. He never took a good enough look when they were at Atlantis and now he stepped back and took a good look at the ship. It was a prototype and the newest in the UNSC's fleet. The fastest, most powerful, and most guarded Frigate in the fleet and Carter was borrowing it. The Dawn was the ship Hood requested be put made in honor of Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson after their deaths in the final stages of the Covenant war. Not only did the name resemble the Frigate but also the make up of the Frigate was similar to Keye's Frigate besides the advanced improvements Hood put on the Frigate. And now Carter was borrowing it.

Carter had changed from his blue uniform to an advanced Marine armor designed specifically for Carter. It was the newest piece of armor to come out of testing and to ensure the success of the mission, Admiral Hood made sure Carter and his team had the first batch of this armor.

All his weapons were aboard the Dawn but he always carried a Magnum, holstered at his belt. Although the Magnum was his last line of defense, Ender's weapon of choice was, due to his duties on Earth as a scout sniper in the Marines, the sniper rifle with a battle rifle nearby or slung onto his back.

"Well Sergeant, she's a beauty isn't she?" a voice from behind Ender took him out of the trance of looking at the ship. Ender turned and saw Admiral Hood standing behind him.

"Sergeant Carter I would like you to meet the Captain of the Dawn and the Captain on your assignment." Hood started to introduce. "Captain Jen McKay." The admiral moved out of the way to show a strikingly beautiful woman in Ender's eyes. Jen McKay was a fit woman wearing an unorthodox golden uniform similar to the one Ender was wearing before. Also similar to Ender was the Magnum pistol she carried, holstered on her belt. She had short crisp golden hair that was tied back into a professional ponytail. She stood very posed and in attention to Admiral Hood, not Ender.

"Captain McKay this is…" Hood started but he never finished his sentence when McKay interrupted, her voice had a rich British accent that almost taunted Ender.

"The decorated Sergeant Major Ender Carter. Receiver of the Bronze Star, Silver Star and nominated for the Medal of Honor am I not correct? I've heard such brave tales of your heroics Sergeant Major. Tales of your squad holding back battalions of Covenant to your last breaths so that Sergeant Major Johnson could move his deployment into the Covenant Excavation site." The Captain said, acting as if she was impressed but finally her face turned and she continued, "I must be frank Sergeant. I expect you to be older." Ender laughed it off with an irritated laugh. All he could imagine was Sparx laughing in that little microchip that Hood probably had in his pocket. "Now that I meet you in person I must say I'm a bit disappointed. But no bother, I'm sure you will prove yourself to me, or die trying." Her tone was that of mocking and Ender suspected that these were only words of mockery and we're her actual language. "I shall see you on board Sergeant." The captain said in a smooth tone that Ender detected as her actual language. A smooth ice cold arrogant tone that made Ender sick to his stomach the minute he heard it. Although she was beautiful at first glance, Ender only saw an ice queen now.

The Captain strutted off and Ender looked to Admiral Hood who knew exactly what he was thinking of saying.

"I'm setting you up with the best Sergeant, remember that." Hood said trying to make light of Carter's situation. But it only made matters worse when Hood reached into his pocket and pulled out the small microchip that on the side in very small lettering inscribed, AI 516, Code name Sparx.

"Now Sergeant. Sparx knows the most about these inhabitants of Odin's star. Use him for information whenever you need it." Ender was anything but grateful for the small gift but he was grateful for the efforts Admiral Hood gave for the success of this mission. For that, Ender put on a professional smile and said,

"Well sir. Everyone is loaded onto the Mythic Dawn and it looks as though we are ready to fire off. Any last words of advice?" Carter said, grateful to the old Admiral. Hood nodded and said,

"Yes Sergeant. I want you to be very careful around these inhabitants. We are invading their land and we must not invoke a war. Not when we are still recovering from one. Be smart, strong and bring your men home." Hood finished strong. Carter gave a big salute and Hood repeated the gesture. "Good luck Carter."

The loading hatch of the Mythic Dawn closed and Carter entered the bridge. Captain McKay stood in front of her command chair. Carter assumed she hadn't settle in yet.

"Bring thrusters to full power. Activate hovering sequence. I want to be in hyperspace in the next five minutes or else you can go home now." She barked orders worse than Carter could.

The Mythic Dawn hovered in the air for a few moments then backed out and the thrusters kicked in. The Dawn quickly sped away from the Cairo and moved farther from Earth.

"Inputting coordinates Ma'am. We shall be entering hyperspace once we are out of range of the station." A pilot technician said sitting in a chair in front of McKay.

"Good work." McKay said. It was the first compliment Carter had heard out of her mouth. She stood up and told the technician to tell her when they were making the jump and she walked to Carter, "Sergeant Carter, I'm sure you've familiarized yourself with the ship." Carter acted enlightened.

"Yes Captain." McKay gave him an unimpressed look.

"Good, I don't give tours. I must mention that our equipment is scarce just for the fact that this is not a large transport ship. We have three Pelicans, which should be more than enough for your squad. We have a few Warthogs, a few mongoose and we have one hornet for scouting purposes. I must remind you that these are expensive equipment and…" Carter quickly interrupted her before he started shouting at her. But in a calm voice he said,

"Thank you Captain. Now if you'll excuse me. You seem to be making the jump." Jen looked to see they were still a few miles out. When she looked back, Carter was missing and in his place was a microchip on a data table. It was Sparx. Jen reached over and grabbed the chip and placed it on the pedestal next to her chair. As Sparx entered the system she sat down. Sparx appeared in front of her and said,

"Well it is good to see a friendly face Jen." Sparx said very informally. Jen gave a raise of the eyebrow and leaned back in her chair. "Good to be in my system again."

"Sparx." Jen sighed. "Do you think Carter remembers any details about his little heroics in Mombassa?" the question seemed to come out of nowhere for Sparx and he was unprepared for it.

"Jen? Why are you asking me this? I'm sure he remembers it; I mean the man is known only for that in his career. What else does he need to remember?"

"Maybe not." Jen muttered to herself. Sparx didn't quite catch it but Jen didn't give him a time to ask. "Sparx I want a complete background check on Carter. I want to know everything he's done and I want it before we rendezvous with the Arbiter." Sparx was still confused but he saluted and said,

"Yes Captain. I'll ask you about it later?" It wasn't so much a question as it was a friendly promise.

Sparx disappeared and he left Jen in her thoughts. Her trance was broken by a sudden voice.

"Captain. We're about to make the jump." McKay finally came to attention and sat up in her chair.

"Very good Marine. Send us out."

The blast door of a region Ender hadn't explored yet opened and Ender entered a lab. Strangely the lab was empty but Ender was still curious. He entered the lab and poked his nose around. He saw computers monitoring heart rates, which made Ender; suspect that there was something here being tested. He continued his search around the lab when he finally came to a large window overlooking another part of the lab. It was a large room where a man and a woman were in the middle sparring in hand-to-hand combat. It was incredibly advanced and reminded Ender of something but he wasn't sure exactly. Both of them were bald and they both wore light jump suits. Ender walked back into the lab and walked up to one of the computers.

Sitting down at one, he looked at the testing. He then looked down at the man and the woman sparring and realized they were both hooked up to a machine by sensors put all over their bodies.

Ender closed out of the testing and saw in large letters what they were testing.

**SPARTAN IV**


	3. Spartans, Gods in Armor

3

Spartans, Gods in Armor

"Are you lost Sergeant Major?" a voice came from behind Carter. He turned with a jump and almost by instinct reached for his side arm but ruled against it in a split second.

Behind him there was an aging man pulling off protective goggles. He wore civilian clothing and wore an old fashion lab coat instead of the protective suits most scientists aboard a UNSC starship would wear. He replaced his protective goggles with regular glasses and he was balding.

"I don't believe we've met." Carter responded very cautiously. He still felt like he needed to exert command, this was his ship now.

"Doctor James Godre." The man simply said. He had a strange crisp way about him but it seemed like behind it was a layer of humor. The doctor approached the desk Carter was standing next to and set the coffee mug he had in his other hand down.

"It's a revolutionary type of hand-to-hand combat that is almost being programmed into them. Since Spartans usually have a hard time surviving through the initial testing we tried to make them less machine and more human. Of course that brings up more problems and more problems mean money. The UN isn't the biggest fan of it but they aren't the ones who see these men in action."

"How did the UN sign off on this Doctor?" Carter interrupted quickly. "The very creation of a Spartan II costs billions of dollars and the Spartan III program was deemed unsafe for the Spartans it created."

"Exactly. So I thought, why not create a healthy medium. A low cost UN approved Spartan program that didn't make the Spartan disposable or any less of a supersoldier than the Spartan II was." The doctor returned the interruption. It was obvious that he was getting excited about the work he was doing. "The solution sounds more expensive but it is actually cuts the cost in half and creates a more powerful force."

Ender looked at the two sparring and suddenly came onto the same wavelength as the doctor. "They're mates." The Doctor laughed.

"Yes in a primitive sense of the word. These two Spartans were created just for each other. Appropriately I named them SPARTAN ADAM 001 and SPARTAN EVE 002." The doctor exclaimed. He leaned back in his chair proud of his work. "By separating the genetic enhancing material between them it cuts costs of creating material for both subject. But when the two are together, that material grows and they become more powerful. If there were love between them that physically existed, it would be the genetically enhancing material within them. That feeling of "Love" between them is almost the only thing machine about them but it plays a big role in how the perform as Supersoldiers."

Ender was left dumbstruck by the explanation of the process. Everything he had studied about the SPARTAN program was just thrown out in this project and given a whole new outline for their creation.

"So what happens if one of the mates is killed?" Ender suddenly asked. He barely knew what he was saying; he was in awe of the entire project. But the question didn't stop the doctor's pride filled explanation.

"Of course, since the project hasn't been tested in real life situations we don't know the full outcome. But my hypothesis if that situation were to occur would be that the surviving mate would cease to become more powerful until paired with another mate. But again, this has not been tested. For all we know the mate could reject his or her new spouse and just remain in the state it is left in when the spouse is killed."

Ender was still left amazed. Somehow he was able to change the subject.

"I'm sure you're aware of the mission ahead of us Doctor?" The doctor nodded and took a sip of his coffee. Carter suspected that the doctor wasn't going to say anything because Carter still had something to ask the doctor and he knew that the doctor knew that.

"Do you have any idea about this planet we're calling Odin's Star?" Carter asked after the doctor's nod. The doctor took the last sip of his coffee then placed it on the dashboard of the desk he was sitting at.

"I just happened to take a Norse Mythology class back at the University I attended back on Earth. That's probably why I was the scientist sent instead of the fifteen others in the SPARTAN IV program. Really that's all I know about the subjects of this mission. Perhaps I could help if decryption of the symbols or understanding of the culture is needed but besides that I am just a scientist working on the Spartan project." That brought the conversation right back to the SPARTAN project.

"I'm assuming this mission could be a potential real test for Spartan 001 and Spartan 002?"

"Hopefully not but if things don't go we always have an advanced set of supersoldiers to protect us." The doctor smiled and looked down at his subject who had finished sparring and now were lying down in separate pods, similar to a cryonic sleep pod. But a holographic screen was above their faces and something seemed to be moving on the screen in front of them.

"Along with advanced combat learning, they also learn advanced intelligence or miscellaneous information. Fascinating subjects to study really." The doctor said drowning in his own thought. This train of thought was interrupted by a familiar cold British voice coming in over the intercom in the lab.

"Sergeant Major Carter report to the Bridge." Ender almost looked disappointed. It was obvious that the scientist intrigued him and he hadn't noticed how the time had flied while he was conversing with him.

"Well Sergeant Major, if you are ever bored during the duration of this expedition and have some free time, I am always welcome to visitors. Technically I am creating your soldiers so these tests are relevant to you." Godre said standing up as if to walk the Sergeant out of his lab.

"Very true doctor. You will definitely see me again."

"I'm glad you've found interest in the SPARTAN IV program Sergeant Major but it would be helpful if all commanding officers were present on my bridge." Captain McKay quickly scolded Carter as he entered the bridge.

"I apologize Captain. I thought that you had everything taken care of with _your_ ship but I will make sure to be here to make sure you can handle your duties of _your _ship." Carter quickly shot back sarcastically. The shot hit the Captain hard but before the Captain could come back Carter softened his tone and said, "I am in charge of the ground task force of this mission Captain not the logistics of this ship on its voyage to our objective. I appreciate your need to keep all commanding officers in the loop," His tone seemed sincere but there was something Jen wasn't buying. "In fact it is a skill I admire in a commanding officer, it is a mark of excellence, but it is not necessary for me to be present on the bridge every waking moment of this voyage." Carter looked around the bridge to the entranced eyes focused on the argument happening in front of them.

Jen also saw the looks they were receiving and she swallowed and accepted a figurative defeat. "I'm not looking for a power struggle Sergeant Major. Having the commanding officers all on the same page is the first step towards success in my mind."

"I'm glad to hear we agree on something." Ender said with a smile. It was a smile he used to try to smooth things over between him and the Captain but she still gave him a cold stare despite her surrender. "What's up?" he said abruptly changing the subject.

"Sparx has been digging through the UNSC and all interstellar voyages recorded in Earth's history to try and find some kind of connection to this mystery civilization."

"I'm assuming Sparx used a search engine connected to Norse affiliated flights." Carter asked. He knew what he was asking was pretty obvious but he had to double-check these things. Once he said it he almost regretted it.

"Of course I searched it with Norse affiliated flights as ridiculous as that sounds." The mocking voice of Sparx said as the blue hologram shot up from the armrest of McKay's. "The results came just as fruitless. For this search I'll have to search every singe record for some kind of connection to Odin's star.

"And how long will that take?" Ender asked, he needed to ask that as a commanding officer but he also wanted to challenge the AI.

"Fifteen minutes." Sparx said with a prideful shrug. It was the first time Ender had seen an AI trying to be modest.

"Then start." McKay ordered. Her voice was clearly professional seeing as though she didn't have a rivalry with the AI.

The search seemed shorter than fifteen minutes but Sparx finally came out his search spell and all the mockery and challenge that had appeared before he started the search had disappeared.

"I found a flight record from a private corporation based off the research base on Mars. The private Corporation was called A-Rune; they did a lot of the weapon production for UNSC back in the 24th century space exploration. But exploration wasn't the only business they were involved with. They came out with a new technology that was suppose to be the potential of being a SPARTAN project. It was called the æsir project. This project would have brought Spartans into the picture long centuries before we came up with it. The flight record I found was a record of the entire A-Rune franchise moving to Reach."

"The entire franchise? What do you mean?" McKay interrupted suddenly.

"I mean exactly that. A-Rune picked up everything they had built on Earth and planned to move it to Reach, it was basically cutting its connection to Earth." Sparx shot back. Carter shook his head in disbelief.

"How is this possible? I've never heard nor seen a record of A-Rune ever existing or having ties to the UNSC." He said challenging the AI but this time it was strictly proficient challenge. But that wasn't how Sparx interpreted it.

"That's because all records of A-Rune were expected to be rebooted to the UNSC archives when the franchise reached Reach. It never did." Sparx shot back. His serious tone never died though.

"The flight records only account for half the trip, and that trip wasn't even in the direction we're heading. Something happened during that trip that made the A-Rune private company disappear from human history."

"And how is that connected to Norse?" McKay asked. Ender was glad she asked it and not him. If he had asked, Sparx would have ridiculed him but nobody on the Bridge knew the connection.

"Æsir was the name used for the gods that the Norse would worship. There were approximately twenty-two Norse Gods and about forty-four Goddesses. More or less though." A voice from behind everyone in the bridge said before Sparx could explain. Everyone looked back to see Doctor James Godre leaning against the entrance to the bridge. He stepped forward. "Every god had their own special field of expertise if that's what you wanted to call it, Similar to the gods and goddesses in Greek Mythology. If there was a Zeus in Norse Mythology, it would be the God Odin."

Everyone seemed to be amazed of the wealth of knowledge the doctor spread to all of them. Even Sparx seemed surprised.

"Is it presumptuous to say that this civilization is the spawn of the A-Rune Corporation?" Carter finally said, addressing everyone on the Bridge.

Sparx thought for a moment and but before Doctor Godre could answer he said, "Nothing is for certain, but it's probably a good bet that that's the story." That was all Carter needed.

"Sparx I want all the information you can pull on A-Rune, I need to know back stories, and more importantly I need to know what we'll be up against if they are not fans of negotiations. Please no fooling around Sparx, I need this done." Carter snapped his commands. He then turned to McKay and said, "Get me a transmission with Lord Hood, I need to brief him on this discovery. I'll brief him in the situation room." He turned to Godre and said, "I might need you for this one Doctor." Godre nodded and followed Carter as he walked out off the Bridge.

Jen didn't like following orders especially from Carter but she again swallowed her pride and started to make a connection to the Cairo.

"This brings light to a lot of things Sergeant. But remember that diplomacy is our number one priority." Lord Hood responded after Carter briefed him with the help of Doctor Godre and Sparx. "But in case of a hostile backlash what are looking at here?"

"Well Commander," Sparx stepped in. Whenever he addressed Lord Hood he always addressed him with respect. It was the only time Ender saw a professional side of Sparx. "The data we have about the Æsir project is more than likely to be outdated and has no doubted been improved to greater levels than our estimates so there is no way to tell what we will be getting into in the of a hostile misunderstanding."

"Has their been any developments on the synthetics we saw on the video feed we received from the Arbiter's intelligence. Hopefully if there will be any hostile "Misunderstandings" it'll be between us and them, not us and other humans." Lord Hood asked when his question about the human's hostile forces came up fruitless.

"Again sir, connection to Mythology doesn't really help unless we actually see what these things can do." Carter addressed the Commander. "But I will take all the precautions I see fit to make sure everybody comes home safely." Sparx groaned to himself. The sarcasm and cynicism returned as fast as it had disappeared.

"Very well Sergeant Major." Lord Hood said. It was obvious that the answer that Carter gave him was not satisfactory but he made dew with it.

It looked as though the Commander was going to leave the transmission but Carter had one more question.

"Lord Hood, in order to take the necessary precautions, I would like to take the new SPARTAN IV prototypes. I have overseen a little bit of their training and with a recommendation from Doctor Godre I believe they're ready for combat."

Hood looked at the doctor. "Do you agree with that Doctor?" The doctor looked up and thought for a moment. After a train of thought lasting a few seconds he smiled and nodded,

"I do think that the only way to see if these are effective supersoldiers, which I believe they are, I think they should see combat if it makes itself evident."

"Then you have my green light. Take the Spartans, you might need them."

"Thank you Commander. We shall brief you next time we have relevant information." Carter said signing off.

"Good work Sergeant. Pass it on to the Captain and her crew." And with that the Commander disappeared from his hologram form.

"Hey Carter, you…" Sparx stuttered, but he was looking at something on Ender. "You got something on your nose, it looks a little brown." Ender quickly shook it off and walked away from Sparx with Doctor Godre close by.

"Adam, Eve! I have someone you'll want to meet." The doctor called as they reentered the lab from the testing grounds Carter had looked down at before.

The learning holograms vanished from in front of the two Spartans eyes and they sat up. They acted no different than Ender or the doctor or any regular human for that matter, but there was something about them that offset that impression of humanity Ender had. They walked like humans, and they were humans but they had their own aura that made them almost immortal-like.

"Sergeant Major Carter." The two said with a salute. They acted as soldiers but they were much different than regular soldiers.

"Greetings soldiers." Carter addressed the supersoldiers under his command.

"The Sergeant would like inspect you're specific armory. He's very curious about this project." The doctor informed. The Spartans were very friendly as they lowered their salute and started towards their armory with a beckon.

"Of course, it's expected for the commanding officer to see his soldier's arsenal." Eve said. She seemed to be the more professional one of the two. Adam seemed more comfortable and less specialized in edict.

They entered a room on the far end of the testing grounds. The room was full of weapons and armor in large tubes that looked as though they could easily be opened but provided enough security for the expensive pieces of equipment.

"Spartans classified in the SPARTAN IV project are not specified to one type of weapon but their weapons of choice is based on their preferred fighting styles." Godre explained as Carter inspected the room.

Really Ender was fascinated with the immense firepower in this room. Everything from Shotguns to Spartan Lasers were hanging in set clusters of those weapons. And it was amazing that all this firepower was for the choosing of these two supersoldiers.

"This you might enjoy Sergeant." Adam said coming up to Carter. He carried a gauntlet that matched the White armor enclosed in the tube marked:

**EVE**

Carter looked curiously at the gauntlet then slid it over his wrist, first asking if it was okay with the Spartan. It seemed like a normal gauntlet until a pulse went through the Sergeant's hand. Suddenly the options of the gauntlet seemed to be etched into Carter's brain and he sensed the hidden blade hidden within the gauntlet. He then commanded it with his mind to protrude and within milliseconds a small, sharp blade extended out of the gauntlet.

Ender was so amazed he laughed and looked at Adam who met him with a smile just as excited. Eve, behind him, only sighed and shook her head.

"The armor infuses itself remotely with the user's brain, this prevents armor paralysis if given an electrical shock." Doctor Godre said pulling the gauntlet off Ender's hand when the blade returned into the gauntlet.

"Eve is more into the stealth and long range fighting style. I'm into close rang and blunt force. It's a good team." Adam said joking at first but then his tone almost turned loving. It made Ender wonder if there actually was a genetically created bond between these two, or genetically created "love".

Adam pulled a small attachment off the armor in the tube entitled:

**ADAM**

At first it was just a tube, but when Adam placed his hand around the tube, it formed into a sophisticated looking hilt and within milliseconds a blade expanded from the hilt.

Eve once again shook her head with a sigh. Obviously Adam was more interested in showing off their "toys" than she was.

"It's based of the blueprint of the Covenant Energy sword, tweaked with my own special touch." Adam bragged.

"But nothing is important as the armor we use." Eve butted in. She felt as though she needed to explain something. "It's the latest MJOLNIR armor, Mark VII." Carter observed the armor. The one marked for EVE was white and the one marked for ADAM was a maroon color.

"Impressed would be an understatement Doctor. You've impressed me beyond words." Ender said with a giddy laugh. "I look forward to seeing you two in action."


End file.
